Giguere makes rare appearance

It's definitely an unusual season when the insertion of Jean-Sebastien Giguere symbolizes a night gone wrong for the Ducks - in a playoff game.

It might be easy to forget that Giguere is the club's all-time career leader in postseason victories (33), shutouts (6) and saves.

But his appearance in the third period of Game 4 on Thursday marked the end of the night for Jonas Hiller (right, No.1), who yielded a postseason-high five goals.

"It's not the way you want to go in," Giguere said. "It's a bad situation. It's not a very fun way to go in and very bad thing for the team to go into that kind of situation. But right now this is what my role is, and I've got to do the best I can with what I get."

It was Giguere's first appearance since April 11, when he relieved Hiller. Giguere's last start had been a March 27 game against Edmonton in which he was pulled for giving up four goals on seven shots, and the Ducks have since went with Hiller.

Giguere, who took the net Thursday to loud ovations for Hiller, stopped all six shots in 14:37 minutes of action. He said he felt "pretty good" considering he hadn't had game action in almost a month.

To stay ready, physically and mentally, for this long has certainly been a unique time for Giguere.

"It's a big challenge," Giguere said. "It's a new situation for me in lots of ways. I try to stay positive, try to work hard in practice and take it one day at a time. Hopefully it's going to be enough."

Giguere was never the same after dealing with the death of his father, Claude, in December. Coach Randy Carlyle stuck with Giguere in the second half of the season but eventually gave Hiller the job, and Hiller's remarkable performance has since made Giguere an afterthought.

Hiller and Giguere, although they compete for the No.1 job, still have a supportive relationship.

"He's a great guy," Hiller said. "Games like tonight, that's why you have a good backup. That's why you have to have two good goalies."

Should Giguere be called on again, his experience cannot be questioned. A Stanley Cup champion and former Conn Smythe winner, Giguere will continue to put in the work in practice and wear the cap on the bench.

Giguere is most comfortable in net, though, and his teammates know it.

"I think I could tell that the guys were behind me," Giguere said. "Obviously they're in a different situation than me. They know my situation is not fun ... I'm sure they were very supportive of me."

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